Finite Element Analysis packages

packas

Hi guys,

I'm currently using CosWorks Designer (Solidworks FEA package). But recently I've been asked to look into modelling some plastics & dynamic forces. What's the best package out there for that kind of thing? CosmosWorks Designer seems kind of limited & I've only briefly looked at the CosmosWorks Professional training manual. Is there a more dedicated package out there for plastics & rubber modelling?

Turbulent Bill

You might want to check out ANSYS or Marc - both of these are more fully-featured FE programs than CosmosWorks. The big advantage is that you can use better material models (viscoelastic etc.) which you might need for plasticas and rubber.

CatFromHue

I'm not sure how it relates to other packages but i did my final year project in uni on ABAQUS/Explicit.
I found it quite good and relatively easy to work with.I was doing dynamic loading i.e. how a helicopter floor reacts in a crash.
I'm fairly sure you would be able to model up plastic forces.

Darren1o1

I did my FYP on modelling rubber (hyperelastic) and ANSYS handled this well. I would suggest using this depending on your access

Turbulent Bill wrote: »

You might want to check out ANSYS or Marc - both of these are more fully-featured FE programs than CosmosWorks. The big advantage is that you can use better material models (viscoelastic etc.) which you might need for plasticas and rubber.

I have some experience using ABAQUS, its farily straight forward. Its the only FEA software the Engineers use in UL. They did away with Pro Mechanica and a few others, so it must be good!

packas

All. I'm stuck with Dassault systems software (Cosmos, Abacus). SOme of my collegues in USA have tried Abacus & they reckon it can't handle what I wnat to do. I'm dealing with polymers & dynamic loading. One of the polymers is hdgroscopic.

Turbulent Bill

packas wrote: »

All. I'm stuck with Dassault systems software (Cosmos, Abacus). SOme of my collegues in USA have tried Abacus & they reckon it can't handle what I wnat to do. I'm dealing with polymers & dynamic loading. One of the polymers is hdgroscopic.

The key thing with FE is to decide specifically what results you want before you start modelling, rather than just doing as detailed a model as possible and then trying to interpret the results set. I found that the more time I dedicated to clarifying the problem, the better the simulation. You may come up with something unexpected and have to iterate, but a good starting point is crucial.

Apologies if this sounds a bit condescending, but I've seen (and made) so many mistakes that it's worth saying. You may find that you can break the overall problem down into something that Abacus can handle.

packas

thanks Bill !!